


What Lies Inside

by PrinceKapitan



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Alya Césaire Redemption, Angst, Bisexual Marinette Dupain-Cheng, But Lila Is Deceiving Them, Chloé Bourgeois Being Chloé Bourgeois, Chloé Bourgeois Redemption, Conflict Resolution, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/F, Falling Out of Love, Lesbian Chloé Bourgeois, Lila Rossi's Lies Are Exposed, Post-Episode: s03 Miracle Queen (The Battle of the Miraculous Part 2), Regret, Slow Burn, So They Must First Know The Truth, because they care, no class salt
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-18
Updated: 2021-03-14
Packaged: 2021-03-16 13:00:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 14,412
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28831596
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PrinceKapitan/pseuds/PrinceKapitan
Summary: Chloé confesses she knows about Lila's lies and finally convinces Marinette to be taken under her wing. Marinette begins to adopt Chloé's meaner side whilst Chloé begins to adopt Marinette's nicer side as they both try to bring Lila down for good. The two must face their own personal demons to do so.
Relationships: Alya Césaire/Lila Rossi, Chloé Bourgeois/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug & Lila Rossi
Comments: 94
Kudos: 287





	1. Chapter 1

Marinette was having by far the worst day anyone could ever have. Lila had managed to make Marinette look like a fool by stealing her phone and posting her private messages to Alya for the whole school to see. Naturally, Alya thought it was Chloé who did it. Unfortunately, when Marinette tried to tell her friend that Lila was the one who did it, the blogger didn’t believe her as Lila had managed to convince Alya that she stole Marinette’s phone back from Chloé. The blogger instead proceeded to attack Chloé verbally and shove her to the ground. Marinette simply gazed apologetically to Chloé, knowing the blonde was innocent in this whole ordeal. All Chloé did was avert her gaze, her look being that of someone who was hurt rather than angry. The pigtailed girl had taken notice, she was clearly still torn up from the Miracle Queen incident, and it was partly her fault.

As school was ending Marinette had to use the bathroom. Before she entered, she did a routine check to see if Lila had followed her, remembering her last confrontation with her. Just as Marinette flushed the toilet, she heard footsteps coming through the door. She caught a glimpse through the crack of the stall and moved around to see who it was. Thankfully not Lila based on the pants, but instead it was Chloé.

The blonde put on her makeup, it was clear she was going to be applying it for a while so Marinette figured if she left quickly, the blonde wouldn’t notice her. Hastily she did so, but as she neared the door, the blonde spotted her.

“What’s your hurry, Dupain-Cheng?”

“Look, Chloé about yesterday I--”

“Whatever, I probably deserved it anyway,” she answered in a gloomy tone. This horrified Marinette, clearly this wasn’t the same Chloé she had known for so long. The blonde didn’t even bother to put up a fight. Her usual scowl was replaced with a forlorn stare, it was clear she was hurting and trying to hide it.

“Chloé…”

“What Dupain-Cheng? You want a fight? Not happening.”

“No, I… it’s just… you seem… down lately,” Marinette paused, knowing the real answer to that question. “Everything okay?”

“Why do you care?” Chloé sighed half-heartedly.

“I just wanna make sure, that’s all.”

“Leave me alone,” her tone sank further and Marinette began to walk away, knowing her sympathy was in vain. “You probably have enough problems of your own dealing with that pretty little liar anyway.” Once she heard such a pronoun, she halted. She explosively walked up to the blonde, desperate for answers.

“You know Lila’s a liar?”

“Of course she is, I only roll with it because honestly… who’s going to believe me?”

“Why didn’t you say anything though?”

“Marinette, we’ve hated each other for how long? Would you have believed me if the situation was reversed?” The pigtailed girl dropped her head, it was true. She likely wouldn’t have believed her, truth or not.

“To be fair though, you were kind of a bully. You targeted me for so long, why?”

“Because you stubbornly refused to follow my lead!” The blonde answered, that familiar fiery energy coming back. “You were perfect and you pissed it all away!”

“Perfect? Perfect for what?” Marinette wondered.

“For being my second in command!” Marinette stepped back in shock. Chloé thought that highly of her? “You could’ve done it this year! I was thinking maybe the fourth time was the charm! You could’ve finally been mine! But no, you just had to go and play hero with Miss Nosey Alya Césaire, now look where you are! She stabs you in the back for that snake, and the rest of those idiots we call classmates followed! They never loved you, they only loved what you could give them!”

Marinette thought about the time she spent on her classmates, it couldn’t have been true. They all loved her, even defended her when she was wrongfully accused of stealing and injuring Lila. “Chloé, why would they do that? There’s no way they would--”

“Well it doesn’t matter anyway, the fact of the matter is that liar has them all wrapped around her finger.”

“And wait a minute, what do you mean ‘could’ve been mine’?” Chloé hesitated a moment as to not let Marinette in on her secret, but quickly reaffirmed her missing confidence. The gloom in her eyes vanished and a hint of hope was where it once was. She placed her hands on Marinette’s shoulders, turning her towards the mirror.

“You’ve had it in you all along, you still do.” She leaned into the designer’s ear, giggling. “I can teach you things you never would’ve learned on your own.”

“And be like you? Chloé, I’m not that kind of person. At least I don’t think I can be.”

“Fine, do as you wish, but every day that liar is going to make a fool out of you and one day it’ll be too late.” Marinette thought for a moment, she didn’t want to hurt her classmates, but if she didn’t take a stand here and now Lila would swallow them whole. Perhaps this was her only chance to get the truth out. She didn’t have any other plans. She thought about what Adrien said; about taking the high road, he was wrong. As much as she didn’t want to admit it to herself, even he was fallible. It felt like a stab in the back, going against his wishes like this, but the situation was becoming too serious to ignore. She knew she had to do something even if it meant resorting to underhanded tactics. She turned back to Chloé, who had been massaging her shoulders the whole time, as if she were trying to ease Marinette into making the decision.

“I’ll do it,” Marinette sighed. “I’ll do it your way.” Chloé elicited a high-pitched squeal, finally happy to have Marinette under her wing. Instinctively she pulled the pigtailed girl into a hug, squeezing her as tightly as she can before the realization of what she was doing hit her.

“About time you came to your senses,” she said, not even bothering to hide her smile. Marinette hugged the blonde back.

“Thank you, Chloé.”

She gestured Marinette into her limo, it was beautiful. Chloé noticed the look of awe on Marinette’s face as she looked around the limo. She smiled, seeing her as happy as she was. Perhaps she may have been trying to fill a void with Sabrina spending more time with Lila, but something in her heart twisted. Seeing Marinette so happy, in her presence and because of her. It warmed her heart, she knew she had a lot to make up for, but she had run from herself long enough. Her only chance to right her wrongs was to turn around and face what she had done. The two were driven to Chloé’s hotel, resting themselves up for the next school day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Follow the [Miraculous Fanworks Discord](https://discord.gg/mlfanworks) to see us working hard (or hardly working) on fics, pics and other fanworks.


	2. Chapter 2

‘How to Be a Bitch Girl’ by Chloé Bourgeois. If she were to write a book on such a subject it would sell like macarons. 

“Okay!” Chloé said, ready to teach Marinette the basics. “All your life you’ve been taught to watch where you’re going and say ‘excuse me’ when you need to get by.”

“It’s common courtesy, Chloé.”

“Yeah well, you gotta unlearn that! Lila didn’t say ‘excuse me’ when she tried to get you expelled and I know for a fact she’s not going to the next time she tries to ruin your life!”

“Okay, you don’t need to yell,” Marinette said, covering her ears. Chloé held her index finger up.

“Oh right, and you need to do three things when you want everyone to respect you. Speak explosively, step explosively and stare explosively.”

“YOU MEAN LIKE THIS?!” Marinette screamed, loud enough to shatter a window. Chloé didn’t realize how loud the pigtailed girl could be.

“Yeah... we’ll get back to that.” She answered sheepishly, now walk to the end of the room.”

“Like back and forth?”

“From the door to the balcony.” Marinette walked over to the railing, each step relaxed and casual. Clearly, it wasn’t what Chloé was looking for. “Here, let me show you.” Chloé’s walk was much more like a power walk, as if she wasn’t trying to run, but still moves with a sense of urgency. “Get it now?”

“I think so.” Marinette attempted to emulate the blonde’s steps. Her demeanor definitely seemed much more ferocious, but she lacked the bite that Chloé had, tripping nearly falling over the railing on her last step. She looked down at the concrete, clinging for dear life. The blonde pulled her back up. “I’m sorry Chloé, I didn’t mean to--”

“Watch where you’re going! You were almost pavement sushi!”

“Sushi is--”

“I know, I know Japanese! Does it really matter? I like sushi okay?!” She took a breath, reeling back from the heart attack Marinette almost gave her. “How about that glare? Show me.” Of course when the designer tried to scowl, she could only manage a cute pout. As much as Chloé wanted to kiss that cute face then and there she remembered Lila was going to want to kill that face. That said, there was no way anyone would take her seriously with a face like that. Chloé simply shook her head, making Marinette see her potential was easier said than done.

The two went over it all night after night, prepping for the next time Lila decided she could push the designer around. Eventually Marinette got all the steps down, she managed to find a happy medium with her tone, her scowl looked somewhat more menacing, and her walk was much more elegant. It was time to put it all into action.

The two girls walked into school, just waiting for the first chance for someone to confront them. Of course everyone took notice of Marinette walking with Chloé, her appearance sans a new pair of red shades Chloé bought for her stayed the same. Her demeanor however was entirely different. Alya was naturally the first to approach her, sensing this wasn’t the same Marinette.

“Hey girl, what’s up?”

“Not now, Alya. Don’t you have a blog to write?” Chloé snickered under her breath hearing that. Alix was the next to speak.

“What’s up your butt?! She was just saying hi!”

“Well hi,” Marinette replied sardonically. Alix tried to stop the designer.

“Seriously, what’s your problem Marinette?”

“Oh, no problem Alix. I’m just going about my morning yet shrimps like you feel the need to take the air out of my day.” Chloé giggled from behind, she was proud with what she created. Seeing Marinette like this delighted her. She came to the dark-haired girl’s side.

“Go skate donuts, Alix. If we need you we’ll ask for you.”

The pink-haired girl growled, of course Chloé would have something to do with this. The duo walked past Lila, not even acknowledging her. The brunette was disgusted. Adrien was the next to pass by, thinking Chloé and Marinette were helping each other take the high road, as he was out of ear’s range to hear what they said.

After class, he went to speak to the girls. “Hey you two, made up I see.”

Marinette stared at him for a moment, before placing her hands on his shoulders. “Adrien, the high road wasn’t for me,” she snickered, giving him the cheesiest smirk. “I think I will change directions.” Chloé was the next to follow.

“Adrikins, I love you, but you really need to learn to assert yourself.” He was confused, clearly Marinette had been acting different. Marinette glanced back at the boy, reluctant to sass him the way she did. He was on her side, he knew the truth. But he wasn’t helping. No one could be spared in this game, not even him.

The model in turn was concerned with Marinette’s change in attitude. Was she trying too hard to be someone she wasn’t? Or was this how she always was and never showed it? He chose to let whatever was happening happen. As long as Marinette didn’t act too rash he knew Chloé was likely the best choice to side with her.

Of course all that happened was everyone was ignored, she was done giving Lila the satisfaction. Nino noticed her talking to Chloé.

“Hey Alya, you think Marinette’s been acting weird lately?”

“Girl’s hanging with Chloé, I don’t like this. Is she really that jealous of Lila?” Adrien stayed silent through all of this, as far as he was concerned both of them weren’t doing anything other than copping an attitude. 

“I dunno, but whatever Chloé did to her, she aint the same Marinette,” Nino noted. Behind the DJ were the two girls.

“Nino, I don’t appreciate being talked about behind my back.” The boy jumped and took two steps back, the designer took two steps forward to match that. “I’m right here Nino, anything you wanna say, say it!” She demanded.

“Uhh… I… look… we’re just worried,” Nino replied.

“What’s there to worry about?” Chloé chimed in. “You’re not the boss of her!” 

“Neither are you!” Alya interrupted. Marinette got in front of Chloé and placed her hand gently on the blogger’s shoulder.

“Alya, I can handle myself. I really don’t need you anymore.”

“So what, we’re not friends anymore?”

“I thought I was jealous of Lila, I thought we already weren’t friends anymore.”

“Girl, it’s not that it’s just--”

“I don’t have proof? Well neither does she,” she smarmed, walking away having perfected the bitch walk. Chloé stuck her tongue out at the blogger and followed, absolutely thrilled with the result.

Alya took a minute to think about what Marinette said, could she have really been unfair with her? Or was Chloé warping her mind to believe that she was a bad influence?

Marinette felt bad telling her friend off, she had to continuously remind herself that Lila had her fooled. She didn’t want to believe Alya was fargone, but it wasn’t a matter of who was right or wrong. Lila couldn’t do anything to Marinette’s social life if she had forsaken it. Of course once more they came across her. Chloé stepped in front of the designer and sneered at the liar.

“Now you have those idiots all to yourself, Marinette is under my wing now and won’t be bothering you again.” Lila was confused, was she conceding? It was far too late for that, and if she was under Chloé’s wing she had two problems to deal with. Marinette however, stepped forth.

“You know what, Lila? You were right. I did end up losing all of my friends, just not the way you have hoped. Enjoy your reign, it won’t last. They never do.” She intentionally bumped Lila’s shoulder and walked off with Chloé. As if the last confrontation didn’t make Chloé shake, this one turned her into a walking earthquake. Clearly Marinette meant business.


	3. Chapter 3

She didn’t need her anymore? What could she have meant by that? She had been nothing, but friendly to her ever since they met. She figured it was some kind of prank Marinette was pulling on Chloé. However, once she opened her blog, she noticed viewership had dropped significantly with many people unsubscribing.

“What the fuck?” She uttered under her breath, of course when she googled her blog she came across another blog called “Coccinelle Craze.” She took a look at it, it had to be Chloé’s. Of course true to form it was. The pseudo reporter uttered a low growl when she read the slogan. “The most reliable news source for your everyday heroes.” It would seem she posted a rather lengthy post discrediting Lila.

Could Chloé be using Marinette’s disdain for Lila to her advantage? It would explain the sudden change. She knew the designer hated Lila, but didn’t realize it was to this extent. But sabotaging her blog? Both of them have crossed the line and they know it. Figuring there wasn’t much telling as to what damage this would cause in the long run, Alya shot a copyright claim at Chloé’s blog. Unfortunately, the claim went of deaf ears due to the blog falling under fair use. Chloé somehow managed to obtain her own inside information.

___

On the other end of the computer Chloé was marvelling at how quickly Marinette was picking up. She cupped her hands on the pigtailed girl’s cheeks. “You sweetie, were made for this!”

“You really think I did good?” Marinette asked nervously.

“Well there are a few things you need work on. First off, the hesitation. Lose it!”

“Hesitation?”

“You had the tone, but you sounded so uncertain. If anyone senses it they’ll try to make you feel even less sure of yourself. Also, your knees were buckling when talking to Adrien.”

“I can’t help it, I’m nervous.”

“Nervous is what’s gonna get you trampled on,” Chloé insisted. And so they went through more sessions, this time Chloé did not hold back. From things like shoving people to starting fights she wanted Marinette to be invincible when it mattered. Halfassing definitely wouldn’t fly here.

___

When school started, Alya went to talk to Adrien. He waved at her sullenly, she returned the gesture.

“Hey, Adrien.”

“Hey, Alya…” He knew why she was there. Shaking his head, he sighed. “I tried to tell her, take the high road. Guess I was wrong.”

“And here I was thinking she’d listen to you because you’re her-- wait, what do you mean you were wrong?” She questioned.

“About how she should handle Lila,” Adrien said, glumly.

“Don’t tell me you’ve got some kind of problem with Lila too!” Alya snapped, scaring the boy.

“Look, Alya. I think we need to talk.”

He pulled her into a nearby broom closet, the space barely large enough to fit them. “Adrien, I don’t think Nino would want you making out with me.” He placed his finger on her lips, making sure no one was nearby. He kept his tone low, about a decibel above a whisper.

“Alya, there’s something I need to tell you.” The reporter’s eyes furrowed.

“What?” The boy shushed her, prompting her to lower her voice.

“Lila isn’t what she seems, she’s been hurting Marinette and lying about what Marinette’s done to her.”

Alya’s brows furrowed. “Did Chloé put you up to this?”

“No, Alya I--”

“Why do you guys have to pick on Lila so much? Is whatever happened between her and Marinette really that bad that you have to automatically side with Marinette?”

“No!” He yelled, losing his patience. “Most of Lila’s stories are fibs and I told Marinette that she should leave it alone!”

Alya rolled her eyes, refusing to believe the boy. “Figured you being friends with Chloé hid who you really are. Mr. Nice Guy!”

Adrien pinched the bridge of his nose, Alya clearly wasn’t listening, but he didn’t want to stoop to Marinette’s level. As far as he was concerned she walked into this when she refused to roll with Lila’s lies, but he made the mistake of expecting her to follow his lead. Marinette had already fermented her friendship with Alya and more or less shut out the rest of the class.

“Fine,” he muttered. “I guess she really isn’t hurting anyone.” He gave up, if Alya wasn’t going to listen he didn’t feel the need to get her involved. Alya instead ended up finding Lila by her locker. Perhaps talking to Lila would clear up these issues.

“Hey, girl,” Alya sighed.

“Hi, Alya. What’s wrong?”

“It’s Marinette, she’s been off lately and I feel like her jealousy for Adrien is what caused her to hurt you.” She placed her hands on Lila’s shoulders. “But I need to know. Is what you said she did true? Lila you can tell me, I’m your friend.” Lila dropped her head and backed away.

“You don’t believe me, do you Alya?” The reporter held her hand out.

“No! It’s not that, it’s just I want to help and I can’t help if I don’t know the whole story!” Lila chuckled internally, this was perfect.

“Okay, I’ll tell you everything,” Lila reassured her.

The two walked to the library and sat, Lila cleared her throat and began. “So here’s how it went. When I came back from my trip to beautiful Achu, Marinette assaulted me in the bathroom.”

“Wait, what?! That doesn’t sound like Marinette at all!”

“I know it’s hard to believe, but she did. She accused me of lying to everyone about my accomplishments. I suppose I can’t blame her, she did work tooth and nail for you guys against that wretched Chloé.”

Alya snorted. “Wretched is too kind a word for that witch.”

“So anyway I tell her to back off or I’ll have to get defensive. So I did, I have a right to defend myself right?”

“As long as you didn’t attack unnecessarily,” Alya agreed.

“So we’re fine for a while, but Marinette just wouldn’t leave it alone. She was going to sabotage me and Adrien.”

“Adrien and I,” Alya corrected.

“Sorry, I’m failing English. Anyway, I had to fight back. I was scared no one would believe me and I didn’t know what she would do to me next. I was so scared.” She began shaking, pretending to be traumatized. Alya held her hand to calm her down. “So I got her expelled, I figured it was the only way to stop her. But then I felt bad about it and decided to tell the truth to Mr. Damocles.”

“And then?”

“And then we called a truce, and it was all over.” Alya reeled back, she couldn’t believe what she heard.

“I didn’t know Marinette hated you that much, girl I’m sorry I ever doubted you!” She hugged the liar, who returned the gesture.

“I forgive you, Alya. She is a great actress.” Alya began sobbing, she didn’t think Marinette was this vile, but considered she had only known her for a few months.

“I just didn’t think she’d be that nasty, I figure Chloé had something to do with this.”

“Perhaps,” Lila chirped. “But it’ll all be okay, I have you.” 

A wistful smirk crawled it’s way onto Alya’s face. “Let’s get her back,” she suggested.

“Alya, isn’t that too far?”

“Girl, after what she did to you, she’s gotta pay. Plus Chloé sabotaged my blog, I lost half my viewers because of her!” Lila gasped the fakest gasp one could possibly gasp.

“Do you think Marinette was involved?”

“Can’t say, but given how much she’s been hanging around Chloé lately, I’m almost certain.”

“Who’s to say Chloé’s pulling her strings? How do you know Marinette’s not the one manipulating her?” The thought of it crawled into Alya’s head. Marinette is ‘a great actress’ after all. She remembered how she tricked Chloé into withdrawing her part in the movie so she could kiss Adrien. As far as she knew she could’ve tricked Chloé somehow or some other way. Regardless, as far as Alya was concerned they had to be stopped. She figured she could talk to Adrien again, see if she could get him to see reason.


	4. Chapter 4

4:00 pm, Wednesday. Ladybug had just finished purifying another akuma, of course she had her partner to crack jokes. She could never quite decide whether she was irritated by his antics or grateful that he was there for her. She figured she could confide with him.

“Hey Cat,” Ladybug spoke, “can I ask you something?”

“What’s wrong, m’lady? Feline down? You know I’ll bring you up.”

Ladybug patted the edge of the roof they were on. “Sit,” she insisted.

“What, am I a dog now?”

She rolled her eyes, “It’s just I have a problem.”

“Problem? What problem?”

“I have this girl at school, she’s making my life a living hell. Everyone believes her over me.”

The boy kneaded his partner’s shoulder. “I’m sorry, m’lady. I really am.” He leaned in to kiss her, hoping that would comfort her. She pulled away.

“Cat!”

“What? I just wanted to comfort you!” She shook her head.

“We’re not dating! The Oblivio incident didn’t count! Got it?!”

“Hey, hey bugaboo! Calm down, I just wanted to calm you down!”

Ladybug huffed. “So you thought when my guard was down, you could swoop in?”

“No! I’m sorry, you were stressed and I wanted to--”

“Yeah, uh huh.” Clearly he wasn’t taking this seriously, she glared at his forlorn expression. Clearly he felt upset about pissing her off, but Ladybug wasn’t buying it. “I guess talking to you was a bad choice.” She latched to the nearest pole and swung off, leaving Cat Noir alone. He found an alley and transformed back into Adrien.

“Smooth move, Romeo,” Plagg sarcastically remarked.

“I just wanted her to stop worrying,” Adrien sighed.

“Dude, that’s your problem. You can’t just change the subject whenever conflict arises. When you have a problem, you have to face it.”

“Plagg, if I do that it’ll just snowball.”

“Yeah, but by pulling things like you just pulled you’ll end up creating more problems. Ladybug has the power of creation, if any she should be creating more problems, not you!” Adrien turned his back to Plagg.

“Don’t ever talk that way about Ladybug! If it weren’t for her, we’d never have beaten any of the akumas!”

“Yeah, you’re a team. You weaken them, she finishes them! It’s not like she could do any of the work herself. If you were to leave--”

“Plagg, just stop. If this is some dumb way to try and get me to intervene with Marinette and Lila, I’m not doing it. Marinette started this and she refused to do the sensible thing, and I tried warning Alya, but we both know how that went!” The kwami sensed the boy’s rising irritation.

“But, you know the truth! You know what that Lila girl is doing and you’re just gonna let her swallow that poor girl whole?! It’s kind of too late to just ‘take the high road’!” The kwami expressed, mocking that last bit.

“Plagg, no.” It wasn’t his problem to solve, plus with Chloé helping her he saw no reason to intervene anymore. Alya was beyond reason, Marinette was too stubborn and with Chloé involved now that could only exacerbate the situation. He told himself it would all blow over, that surely it would have to get worse before it got better. That’s how most of the stories he read while homeschooled certainly went.

___

Ladybug de-transformed on Le Grand’s roof, the first thing she did was head to Chloé’s room. She had lent Marinette her own card in case she ever wanted in. Her father was shocked that she did such a thing, she hadn’t requested that for anyone. Not even Sabrina had that privilege. 

That said, the redhead occasionally came by even while the duo practiced. She was jealous, irritated that Marinette got more face time with Chloé while she was still the blonde’s ‘lackey.’ And there she was, at Chloé’s hotel room.

“Hey Sabrina, is Chloé home?”

“No, she isn't!” The redhead sulked. “So why don’t you just go home?”

“Oh, it’s cool Sabrina,” the pigtailed girl insisted. “Chloé said I could crash at her place whenever I please.” Once she entered, she saw some delicious food laid out. Spaghetti and meatballs with some freshly baked, freshly sliced boule with butter on the side. Chloé soon followed in, allowing Sabrina to join them. “Chloé, is that for you two?”

“No, that’s for you and I. But, I suppose Sabrina can have what we don’t eat. I was going to call you, but you’re here already.” She pulled out two bottles of orange Lorina and placed them on the table.

Marinette was shocked, no extra lessons today? No tips on what she could improve on? “Chloé, aren’t we gonna, you know...”

“Do more lessons? In due time, but I figured I would treat you to some dinner.”

“Chloé I appreciate this, but really you don’t have to.” The blonde pressed her lips together and breathed out, making a horse sound.

“Uh, duh! I chose to! What are you so mad about?”

The pigtailed girl averted Chloé’s gaze. “Nothing,” she uttered.

“Bullshit, it doesn’t look like nothing!”

“If I told you, you wouldn’t believe me.”

“Hmph, fine! But who else are you going to turn to?”

“Chloé, please. It’s top secret.” The blonde pouted, she was trying really hard to open up to Marinette, but the pigtailed girl was reluctant to do the same. She was hurt by that, a detail Marinette did not miss. “Fine,” she sighed. “I told one of my outside friends about Lila, and he just doesn’t take it seriously. I wish he would for once in his life not joke about everything or try to flirt with me?”

Chloé cocked her head. “Outside friend? Flirting with you?” Sabrina seemed to breathe a sigh of relief, thinking this meant Chloé was safe from Marinette’s ‘advances.’

“We’re never gonna be a couple,” Marinette answered, much to Sabrina’s reignited distress. “It’s just he’s one of the only people I can talk to, I just wish he’d take me seriously for once.”

“So he’s like Sabrina?”

Marinette shot a smug glance at the redhead. “Basically.” Chloé laughed at the redhead’s expense, angering her further. “Except he tried to kiss me when I tried to tell him about it,” Marinette cackled. “Can you believe that?”

“What a pig, I’d have slapped him upside his face for that!” Marinette was relieved, happy to see that for once, someone would listen. 

“He’s lucky, I’m such a soft touch. Around him at least.” Chloé pounded her fist onto her hand, as if she had a ‘eureka!’ moment.

“But what if you weren’t a soft touch? Maybe then he’ll get the hint.”

Marinette snickered. “Chloé, he’s just a flirty little dork in love, I don’t think I need to go that far with him.”

“You sure, has he done this more than once.” Chloé’s confusion turned to glee. “You like the attention don’t you?”

“What? No?!” She answered in a rather suspicious tone.

“And I thought you’d need time, you were ready even before I took you on!” Marinette did indeed like the attention, but didn’t want Chloé to get the wrong idea. That said, Chloé was a bit shaken. If this mystery guy was truly just a ‘flirty little dork in love’, then was she the same. Clearly Marinette was high maintenance if she was willing to pull stunts like this.

“Can I by any chance know who this guy is?” Curious to see if her behaviors were anything like his. Marinette was nervous. If Chloé knew it was Cat Noir, that could compromise their identities. She thought of the first person that came to mind.

“It’s Adrien,” the dark-haired girl answered sheepishly.

And just like that, Chloé’s heart sank. If even Adrien wasn’t good enough for Marinette, surely she didn’t stand a chance.

“Okay,” she sighed. But, once she thought about it, it didn’t add up. She had never seen Adrien make a move on Marinette even once, much less spend time with her. Unless there was something Marinette wasn’t telling her. “So, what do you think he sees in you?” Chloé fearfully asked.

Marinette shrugged. “Alya would invite him over when his dad wasn’t playing dictator, and she really wanted me to get to know him.”

Chloé’s heart sank even further, of course he had an in. Adrien’s just so nice, meanwhile Chloé is that one person everyone would rather avoid. But then she remembered, that’s one of the reasons she was doing this for Marinette. She examined the pigtailed girl, she was happy, even if Chloé herself was a jittering wreck. So far, so good. If Adrien could get an in, Chloé could make herself impressionable somehow.


	5. Chapter 5

Alya couldn’t sleep, the idea of Chloé managing to accomplish what she had not been able to do got to her. Her subscriber count had fallen substantially, however she came across one subscriber who messaged her directly. She read it, the messenger explained that she could never be the one in the wrong and that Chloé had simply managed to turn everyone against her just to bring her up.

Nadine appeared to be the name of this messenger, this fan didn’t appear to be following the Ladyblog for very long, but it was pretty clear she was intrigued by the blog’s owner.

Alya decided to follow-up on this messenger. “Really, you really think so?” She typed hopefully. Shortly after, she received a response.

It read “Of course! Whoever this Chloé is, she clearly is only doing it for herself and bringing you down. People often say you were a bad friend to Marinette, but you did your best to make sure that idiot got more than two words out to that dashing Adrien!”

Marinette? Adrien? Clearly, this narrowed down the search, ‘Nadine’ had to go to College Françoise Dupont if she knew Alya used to be friends with Marinette. She hurriedly typed back, curious about who this was.

“I don’t get what her problem was, I did my best for her! Anyway, who are you? I appreciate the support, but I kind of want to get to know you face-to-face. Especially if you wanna help me with that jerk Chloé.”

“I can’t right now, I don’t want anyone to get suspicious. I’ve been planning on finding ways to get Chloé’s website taken down and if we’re seen together, that might make me a suspect. Also, do you ship Ladybug and Chat Noir?”

That question piqued her interest, she answered. “Yeah, those two are made for each other.”

Quickly Nadine typed back. “I knew someone as amazing as you would agree, those two are made for each other, how can anyone not ship them?”

Alya quickly typed back. “Bet Chloé doesn’t, she had a huge crush on Ladybug. Pretty sure she simped for her hardcore. Probably discredits poor Chat Noir too, the boy is a precious little bean who deserves all the love!!!”

“Right? Ladybug just needs to realize she no one else deserves her, Chat fights tooth and nail for her. Chloé isn’t anywhere near the man he is.”

Alya chuckled at that remark. “She aint even a man, besides she always picks on Marinette every day, and yet she sides with her over me! And treats my friend Lila like garbage too.”

“Even if Lila had a misunderstanding with Marinette, it doesn’t have the history that anything Chloé’s done to Marinette I bet. Longevity over severity am I right?” Nadine typed.

“Turns out it was the other way around, Marinette was the one picking on her. And I bet Chloé fanned the flames!” Alya messaged back.

“I bet, she must be stopped! I’ve got an idea on how I can get her blog down!”

Alya hurriedly typed. “I’m listening.”

___

The next morning, Alya entered the mayor’s office. “Hello, Mayor Bourgeois.”

The mayor took his eyes off his paperwork and acknowledged the blogger. “Hello, Alya.”

“So, I see Chloé’s got a blog up, I mean that’s cool except she’s stealing my work.”

“Stealing your work? How is she stealing your work Alya?”

“Because I’ve worked hard to make the Ladyblog everyone’s number one source for new information on Ladybug and Cat Noir, but Chloé’s blog is just pointless glam that gets in the way of all of that! With all due respect sir, I want it gone!”

Andre was baffled, he stood up and placed his hands on his desk. “Look Alya, I know it’s upsetting losing your blog’s status, but what Chloé is doing is under fair use. All of the videos in her blog were recorded by her, and she hasn’t stolen any footage.”

Alya winced, legally speaking it was the truth. She wished she didn’t have to resort to any of this. She pulled out some embarrassing photos of what appeared to be Andre acting like a dog. It was clearly photoshopped, but it seemed to intimidate Andre enough to step back.

“Now, now Alya… we don’t have to resort to these measures. I’ll have a talk with my daughter right away.” Alya walked out, confident that her actions left an impact. She walked past Chloé, who her father had texted. Chloé simply shot her a pouty side-eye before walking into her father’s office.

“What is it dad?” She sighed.

“I would like you to take your blog down, my career is at stake!”

“Wait what?! No! I’m not doing that!”

“Sweetie, you don’t understand! Someone has information against me and if it gets out, I might not get re-elected!” Chloé noticed the photos in her father’s hand and examined them.

“These are photoshopped! Whoever sent you these is the worst editor, the color doesn’t even match the background, there’s not even any shading!”

“What?” He wondered, his daughter walked him through the obvious flaws in the photos. He then realized it was fake.

___

Alya was shaking, she didn’t think she would go to these lengths just to get Chloé blog down, she looked at her trembling hands and breathed in and out heavily. Her heart was racing, she thought about what she did to the mayor. Her mother called her for dinner, but as she did so her phone rang and she answered nervously.

“Hello?”

“Photoshop?! Really, Césaire?! That’s like the oldest trick in the book!” Alya instinctively hung up before juggling her phone and dropping it.

“Alya dinner!” Her mother shouted once more. She went down, feeling nervous. Whoever this Nadine was, she clearly had some kind of ulterior motive. If she contacted her and knew as much as she did then who knew what she could do to Alya if she refused to do what ‘Nadine’ said?

___

Ladybug and Cat Noir finished another patrol, amidst the starry, moonlit night. Once they landed on a roof they surveyed the area. Ladybug signaled her partner with a thumbs up. “The coast is clear.” As she looked back, she noticed the red rose he was holding.

“A rose for m’lady?”

“Ladybug let out a frustrated sigh. “Still flirting huh?” She walked up, swatted the rose out of his hand and grabbed him by his suit from the chest area. “Listen here you annoying little shit, I don’t love you! Get that through your head!” She roughly released him and walked away, she was really close to punching him out of irritation.

“Wow, m’lady you just really--”

“Why do you never take me seriously? Just why?” She asked, preparing to swing off once more.

“M’lady please! Whatever’s going on, I can help you! You just need to let me be your boyfriend and I’ll help!”

“So what? You think dating you is going to make all my problems go away?! You really are stupider than I thought!” Cat Noir didn’t like his partner’s tone, he attempted to place his hand on her shoulder only to have it swatted away.

“M’lady I don’t mean it like that, I just want to help.”

“If you really want to help, then just go home Cat Noir. It’s clear you don’t care.”

She swung off angrily, landing on Le Grand’s roof to de-transform. She texted Chloé to come upstairs, which she did shortly after Ladybug turned back into Marinette.

“Hey, Marinette. You okay?”

“No,” she seethed.

“Me neither! What happened?”

“I told that friend of mine off, and he still refuses to listen to me! I’ve told him multiple times I don’t love him and yet he still goes on and on about wanting to date me.”

“What an idiot, if I were you I’d choose a new friend.”

Marinette dropped her head. “It’s… a bit more complicated than that. We’ve been close for a long time, I can’t just drop him. But, I am going to make sure he doesn’t pull anything like that ever again.”

Chloé saw this was her chance, she patted the pigtailed girl on her shoulder, only to quickly remove it once she raised her head back up. “He won’t listen, that liar is a huge problem! Trying to get in your pants isn’t the solution!”

“That’s just it, I don’t love him that way and I do want his help, I just don’t want it in that way.”

“I know, but at least your friend isn’t deliberately trying to bring me down!”

Marinette tilted her head in confusion. “What do you mean?”

“Césaire tried to have my daddy take down our blog!”

“Alya did? Chloé I--”

“I saw her leaving my daddy’s office this morning, and then when I went in he was holding photoshopped blackmail!”

Marinette pinched the bridge of her nose with one hand and balled the other into a fist. “Lila really has her fooled, Chloé. We have to make Alya see the truth! Any means necessary!”

The two thought hard, but quickly Marinette’s phone rang. It was Alya. “Should I answer?” Marinette asked Chloé.

“Sure, but put it on speaker. I want to hear what that two-faced bitch has to say.” Marinette hit the accept button.

“Alya, what do you want?”

“Look girl, I know we’re on rough ground, but I need your help.”

Marinette scoffed. “Like how you didn’t help me when I needed it? Like how you discredited literally everything I said? Alya, if you’re expecting help you came to the wrong place.”

“Wait what? I helped you with Chloé and--”

“That was then, this is now!” Marinette insisted. “Chloé’s not like that anymore!”

Alya was taken aback by Marinette’s tone. “Fine, fine! Okay look, someone contacted me about her blog, asked me to try to take it down.”

“A-ha! So you admit, you tried to cancel me!” Chloé shouted, surprising Alya.

“Chloé’s with you? Girl you know how I feel about her.”

“We’re not friends anymore, who I hang out with is none of your concern,” Marinette replied coldly.

“Fine, look I just want to talk to you about this other girl that might be following me. She knows who you and Chloé are and she wanted me to take you both down!” Chloé raised a brow, uncertain if the dark-skinned girl was telling the truth.

“Why should we believe you?!” The blonde huffed.

“Chloé, this doesn’t even concern you--”

“The hell it doesn’t, that was my blog you tried to shut down! Unfairly might I add!”

Marinette took a breath. “Tell us what you want us to do and if you’re lucky, we’ll help you Alya.”

Chloé mouthed the words ‘what are you doing?’ to Marinette who simply mouthed back the words ‘trust me.’

“Fine,” Alya conceded. “I need to ask you two heard of a girl named Nadine. She wants me to smear Chloé and sends me these weird messages. Anyone come to mind?”

“Lila,” Marinette thought to herself. Of course she couldn’t prove that. “My place,” she told Alya. “Come alone, don’t tell anyone about this. You want my help, we’re keeping this under wraps.” Perhaps it was for old times sake, or for hope that Alya might finally see Lila for what she is, but she wanted to help her. Despite losing her as a friend, she had to remind herself that Lila was feeding her lies.

“Deal, girl. See you there?”

“Tomorrow, after school,” she replied. “Bye.” She hung up, sliding the phone back in her pocket.

“What are you doing Marinette?!”

“I know, what she did was dirty, but if we can convince her Lila’s the problem, maybe we can get her on our side.”

Chloé pouted, clearly worried about what might happen to her if the duo rekindled their friendship. “And what if she’s in on it with that liar?!”

“Oh, I have it all planned out.” Marinette assured her.


	6. Chapter 6

Adrien lay on his bed, frustrated that Ladybug didn't want his help. “Adrien, are you ready to admit that you need to actually do something about this Lila thing?” Plagg asked.

“Plagg, forget about Lila. I want to help Ladybug.”

“You want to help Ladybug by trying to woo her when she’s in the middle of a crisis!” The Kwami shook his head. “Honestly, did you really think that would work?”

“I thought if I did, she’d feel more comfortable telling me. It’s just she wants to stay so distant, I figure if I could get her to love me quicker I could get her to forget about the problem.”

“Adrien, that is the dumbest idea I’ve ever heard so help me I would kill you if you weren’t such a sweetheart.” He laughed.

“Am I a sweetheart because I give you camembert or because of my charisma?” He handed Plagg some camembert, only for him to swat it away. 

“You can’t make the problem go away by ignoring it, and you don’t need to make Ladybug your girlfriend just to solve it.”

Adrien sat up, cross-legged. “I know, it’s just I love her. You know that, she knows that, this ‘someone else’ she speaks of can’t be better than me, he just can’t!”

“I know how you feel Adrien, usually I wouldn’t care, but this is a legit problem. You can choose not to get involved, but come on!” He flew to the boy’s face, mere inches from his eyes. “This could be your chance! Your dad doesn’t define you, show him that! Show him you’re better than this!”

___

“So tell me again, why you’re even thinking about trusting that nosey idiot?” Chloé asked.

“I have a sinking suspicion that this mystery account is Lila, it’s gotta be,” Marinette insisted.

“What if she doesn’t believe that?”

“Oh she will, if we can get her to agree to our terms.”

“Terms? Marinette Dupain-Cheng, you tell me right now what you have planned!”

“You’ll see.”

Alya came in and Marinette pointed at the chair to sit. “Coffee?”

“I’m good, so what’s up?”

Marinette sighed, placing her hand on her knee. “Tell me about this Nadine, what happened.”

“Also my blog did not plagiarize off of yours, what I was doing was perfectly valid, Alya Césaire!” Chloé added. Marinette looked at the blonde and giggled. “What? I needed to get that out of my system!” She huffed, pointing to the surprised Alya. “Proceed.”

“Anyway,” the flabbergasted Alya continued. “She knows us and she has it out for you, Chloé. So, against my better judgement, I thought I’d warn you because I’m not sure what she’s going to do to me if I don’t cooperate.”

“I see,” Marinette noted. “It’s Lila.” Alya’s eyebrows furrowed.

“You can’t prove that, Marinette. And after what you did to her, I have half a mind to--”

“You’re right, Alya… I can’t prove that. But frankly, can Lila prove that I did any of whatever I she claimed I did to her?” Alya thought for a moment, realizing that her former friend had a point.

“Yeah,” she sighed, pausing to wonder if Lila had been lying to her. “But that doesn’t mean Nadine is Lila.”

“True, but you also can’t prove that she isn’t. Which is why, I want you to keep an eye on Lila.” 

Alya tilted her head, confused. “Marinette, honestly you just won’t put it to bed will you?”

“Fine, don’t listen to me. I’ll just let her troll you with her fake Nadine account.”

Marinette had to make Alya see the truth, even if it meant manipulating her. Lila was already doing plenty of that. Alya was torn between sides. That was the genius of being caught in the middle, no matter which side she picked, the opposing side would come at her full force.

“Okay, okay! I’ll do it!” Alya relented. Chloé shook her head, she couldn’t trust her. She wanted to make sure she followed the plan.

“And don’t tell her anything!” Chloé hissed.

“Fine, I’ll get on it.” Alya left, Chloé was relieved. 

“I don’t think she’ll do it,” the blonde huffed.

“Give her some faith, Chloé. This could be our only shot to make her see the truth, I don’t have a better idea.”

“I just feel like this could go wrong,” she hissed.

Marinette let out a sly smirk. “Chloé, if Alya were to actually witness what Lila’s doing, she’d have no choice but to believe us.”

Chloé nodded, feeling anxious about the potential turn out.

___

The school day started, Adrien was nervous. Plagg’s words were still eating at him and he knew he was on eggshells with Ladybug. Talking to Alya went poorly and he had been scared to try warning the rest of the class, lest he end up losing their respect like Marinette did. Instinctively he hid in the same closet that he spoke to Alya in the other day. Out came Plagg.

“Did you chicken out?”

“I can’t Plagg,” he panted, his anxiety rising. “I just can’t!” Plagg did his best to shush him. “I’m not like Chloé, I can’t just jump into every problem that comes up.”

“Adrien, the blow out isn’t going to be as hard for you as it will be for Marinette.”

“I thought I solved the problem when I got Lila to get Marinette back into school.”

“You only postponed it! You can’t solve everything with peace, do we really have to go through all of this again?!” Adrien took a breath and slowly opened the door. His anxiety began to increase further when he ran into Chloé.

“Hi, Chloé,” he greeted nervously.

“Oh, Adrien. Hi, I guess.” The boy looked at his former friend, she was clearly disappointed in his lack of action. Seeing that disappointment crushed Adrien, he valued Chloé as a friend even if she disgusted him at times. He didn’t know what hurt worse, the fear of what might happen if he decided to take action, or the disappointment directed towards him for not doing so.

All he could do was wave at her as she strutted off to class. She looked back in his general direction, not happy with his decision. He had lost his first friend, all because he had given Lila a second chance to do as she pleased.

“I’ve got to get Marinette to stop this,” he thought to himself. “Chloé too.” 

Chloé on the other hand had no intention of stopping, not until she saw this to the end, not until she got Marinette out of this, possibly not until she won her heart.

She gazed upon the pigtailed girl’s locker, it having been keyed and sprayed on. It reminded Chloé of what she used to put the class through. “Loser”, “crazy”, “idiot”. All of those words were words she’d often call Marinette when she refused to follow her lead. She stared at it, sobbing. Only now did she realize the hell she put Marinette through. Ms. Mendeleiev approached her sobbing student and tapped her shoulder.

“What are you bawling about? They run out of your favorite brand of nail polish?” She was trying to joke with her, but all this did was upset Chloé further, the regret of hurting Marinette as much as she did may have been worse than a fashion crisis, but combining the two ripped her very heart in two. The science teacher realized the situation was serious. “Come with me.” She pulled her into her classroom and closed the door.

“What, am I in trouble for crying now?!” Chloé bitterly hissed. But all she did was fold her arms and scoff.

“What? Would you rather I let you weep like a baby where everyone can see you?” Chloé shook her head. “Now, tell me what’s wrong.”

“I didn’t do that to Marinette’s locker,” she wept.

“Of course you didn’t, that’s been there since I came in, unless you broke in.”

“Everyone’s going to think I did, Lila did it.”

The grape-haired teacher shook her head. “That’s a pretty serious accusation, Chloé.”

“Are you calling me a liar?” Chloé asked, offended.

“No, but I can tell you now that without proof you’ll have a hard time convincing everyone that she did it.”

Chloé wiped her eyes. “Do you think you can help me?” Mendeleiev laughed.

“Chloé, I’m a teacher. I can’t under good conscience get involved with any affairs you have with Lila outside of school. You can however, come to me if you need anything and if I catch Lila in the act, I can assure you action will be taken.”

Chloé didn’t know whether or not to trust her, but it was clear the teacher wasn’t fooled by Lila’s actions. Ms. Bustier meant well, but it was clear Chloé couldn’t trust her. Against her better judgment she told her teacher the truth.

“I love her,” she choked out. Ms. Mendeleiev raised a brow.

“You love Lila Rossi?”

“No, not her,” she sniffled. “Marinette, I love Marinette.” The teacher opened her mouth slightly, retaining her stern yet understanding expression.

“I see, is that why you’re crying?”

Chloé nodded. “I’ve been horrible to her, and seeing someone else do it… I just can’t.”

Mendeleiev scoffed. “That was then, this is now. You want to help Marinette, you need proof that Lila did this to her.” 

Chloé thought about Marinette’s plan with Alya, it was the only way she was going to obtain such proof. She nodded, wiping the last of her tears off and heading out to find Alya. She was once again determined to make it up to Marinette.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, this is where I plan for more Chlonette (cause you know I love Chlonette). 
> 
> Keep in mind I don't intend to salt Alya and Adrien here (even if I personally don't like them as characters). I do however still feel critical of the way the show handles them, always in the right and without any legit conflict or reaction for their actions. So here I'm trying to give them more of an arc in this story. Alya (and the class) realizing she was wrong for not believing Marinette and Adrien struggling with how to get involved because he's one of the only people who can help Marinette. It's legitimate conflict and I don't see it as salt. Keep in mind one is being tricked and the other is living in fear so while it may not excuse their actions, it at least helps them move towards bettering their future.
> 
> Also keep in mind you are allowed to like them as much as I am allowed to dislike them, everything's subjective. Let's try to keep it civil.


	7. Chapter 7

Alya kept true to her word and kept an eye on Lila. The lying brunette strutted along the school well after class was over. There wasn’t much out of the ordinary. She found a secluded spot in the library and began texting on her phone. Alya couldn’t quite make out who Lila was talking to.

Adrien walked in soon after, Alya kept out of his sight. She didn’t trust him, not after the closet incident. He took a seat across from Lila.

“Hi, Lila.”

“Adrien? What a pleasant surprise, I was just going to text you.”

Adrien sighed. “Pleasure, look Lila we need to talk.”

“What is it Adrien? Is it about Marinette again? I thought we solved this little problem.”

The boy’s eyebrows furrowed. “Look Lila, maybe it’s not too late. Maybe we can still solve this peacefully. What you did to Marinette was wrong, but I just want you to know I don’t hate you for it.”

Lila scooted her chair back, trying to look as scared as she possibly could. “Adrien please, I told her I’m sorry.”

Alya looked on, upset. While she couldn’t quite hear what they were saying, Lila’s gestures convinced her that he was threatening the girl. He had to be doing this for Chloé, Marinette was being duped.

“I know,” Adrien said. “But, I want this to stop. Sooner or later, everyone’s going to figure out. Make it easy on yourself, stop while you’re ahead.”

Lila shook her head. “Adrien, leave it alone. You were doing so good.”

The boy was not happy, he got up and walked out without a word. His anxiety was once more getting the better of him. Once he was gone, Alya stepped back, accidentally tripping and catching the attention of Lila.

The two stared at one another, unsure of what to say.

“How long have you been watching, Alya?”

The journalist got up and brushed herself off sheepishly. “I uh… hid when I saw Adrien come in. I don’t trust him, he’s been giving me bad vibes lately. I was coming in to see if they had this book I was looking for, but then I saw you two talking. He looked mad, what happened?

Lila began her usual fake sob. “It was horrible, he said he would tell everyone I was the one who hurt Marinette.” Alya slowly hugged her as she continued pretending to sob. 

“I knew Chloé was up to no good,” Alya scoffed.

“Chloé?”

“I’m pretty sure she set Adrien on you, she’s been tricking Marinette since the word go. She’s probably the reason Marinette’s been targeting you. She just couldn’t take that someone higher than her would put her down.”

Lila sniffled the fakest sniffle ever. “You really think so?”

“It can’t be a coincidence that they started hanging out. I knew Marinette wasn’t doing this on her own!”

“So what are we going to do?” Lila asked, as she let out yet another fake sniffle.

“Can you keep a secret?” Alya asked. Lila nodded and the glasses-wearing girl whispered into the liar’s ear. “Chloé thinks I trust her because Marinette’s trying to tell me you’re the one who hurt her. But now, I know the truth.” She tightened her embrace before the shorter brunette suddenly placed her lips on Alya’s.

The journalist was surprised, she didn’t know whether to kiss back or pull away. Once Lila’s lips parted with Alya’s, the taller blonde stood in shock. She stared at Lila for a full minute before the liar broke her stare.

“I’m sorry. I just… really like you.”

Alya scratched the back of her head. “Yeah, but I’m kind of involved with Nino.”

“You are?!” Lila gasped “Alya, I’m so sorry I--” Alya pressed her middle and index fingers on the liar’s lips.

“It's cool, girl. You didn’t know.” 

“I thought you two were just really good friends!”

“Lila, chill. No harm, no foul.”

“O-okay,” she stammered, doing her best to stifle a chuckle.

“I gotta go now, see ya girl.” She waved at Lila, who waved back satisfied.  
___

Chloé took Ms. Mendeleiev’s advice to heart, perhaps a little too much to heart. Every time Marinette came over Chloé would make her dinner, make sure she was comfortable, do things for her. Of course she’d curse herself out for every mistake she’d make. She really was trying, even if at this point she was hilariously bad at it.

Marinette on the other hand seemed a little put off by Chloé’s newfound homemaker role, nonetheless she still appreciated her effort.

“Here,” she said, placing a cup of tea next to the macarons she cooked.

“Wow, Chloé you’ve really gotten good at this.”

Of course she took that compliment with a red face and a high-pitched squeal. “Of course I have, I can do anything.”

“You sure can,” Marinette patted the blonde’s shoulder. “Thank you, Chloé.” 

Before Chloé could respond, Marinette's lips were suddenly pressed against her’s. She definitely did not expect this. As much as she wanted to return the kiss she pulled off as fast as she could. She turned her back, feeling ashamed.

“Chloé, what’s wrong?” Marinette asked, worried. Chloé didn’t respond, instead she was unable to look at her. Before she could muster up a response, a knock was heard at the door. The two rushed to answer and were surprised to see Adrien at the door.

“What do you want?” Marinette hissed at him.

“I wanna talk. I spoke to Lila today.”

“Lila?!” Chloé squeaked before facepalming. “Adrien, for the last time. You’re high road crap isn’t going to work on her.”

The boy shot a dirty look at his former friend. “Actually, I was telling her to stop before things got worse.”

“Oh, were you?” Marinette asked the boy.

“Yes.”

“And how’d that go?”

“She kind of refused.”

Chloé rolled her eyes. “I told you your little nice guy routine would get you into trouble.”

Adrien returned the gesture soon after. “Well keep in mind if I hadn’t done what I did, Marinette wouldn’t have gotten back into school!”

“If you had done what you did before that, she wouldn’t have even been expelled in the first place!”

“You don’t know what it’s like, Chloé.” Marinette could feel the tension heating up between the two. “Living under my father, following his strict expectations. Your parents don’t care enough about you to put you under any of what I’m put through!” Chloé raised her hand to slap the boy as hard as she could, but Marinette restrained her.

“Stop it! Both of you!”

“Marinette, listen.” Adrien pleaded. “Maybe we can still patch things up with Lila, she can’t hurt anyone if she gets what she wants.”

“I think you should leave, you’re the one who doesn’t understand!” Chloé hissed, still resisting every urge to pound him, only being held back by Marinette.

Adrien began to leave, but quickly turned back to Chloé. “One day, you’ll see why.” He couldn’t bring himself to fully agree with Chloé’s ideals. 

“No, you’re the one that’s going to see. How ridiculous you are, utterly ridiculous!” It was too late, she couldn’t trust him. As long as he continued his misguided attempts to dissuade the situation, she knew he could only be a liability. 

On the one side the boy knew why Chloé was doing what she was doing, but at the same time he knew this feud wouldn’t end until one of the two parties was hurt badly enough. 

Once Adrien left, Chloé’s attention turned immediately back to Marinette, who sunk her head.

“I’m sorry, Chloé.”

“Forget that, what was that?!”

“What do you mean?”

“Earlier, before he answered the door! Why did you kiss me?!”

Marinette stepped back, nervously. “I-I--” She couldn’t answer.

Chloé’s heart sank, the memories of her tormenting the very girl in front of her came racing back. At that moment, Marinette was finally able to finish her sentence.

“I know.” Chloé wept hearing this from her.

“You what?!”

“I know, Chloé. Why you’re doing this for me, why you’ve hated me for so long, why you think our class never loved me.” The blonde slumped on her bed, face down. Marinette patted her shoulder. “Chloé, I’m not mad at you for what you did. I don’t hold grudges, I never have… I’ve forgiven you.” 

“I haven’t,” the blonde wept, her voice muffled in her bed. “No one’s ever had faith in me!”

“That’s not true!” The dark-haired girl insisted.

“Okay, name one person! Anyone you can think of?! Because I can’t! I can’t think of anyone who’s ever had faith in me!”

“Me! I did!” Chloé stared at Marinette in shock. “I still do.” The blonde sat on her bed, staring into empty space. As if she didn’t feel guilty enough before, her regret increased further.

“How?” She uttered.

Marinette placed her hands on Chloé’s shoulders. “Because I’ve seen you, you’re more than capable of doing good. Sure maybe I was shaky on it, but the pieces were there. They still are now. Hell, you’re helping me. I didn’t even ask for it and you’re helping me with Lila.” Chloé raised her head and looked Marinette in the eye. “I kissed you because I love you.”

“But after all I’ve done to you--”

“None of it remotely compares to what Lila’s doing.” The dark-haired girl laid next to the blonde and cuddled her. “Besides, you’re not completely to blame.”

“I’m not?”

“No, I said some pretty nasty things myself. Like insulting your outfit, saying you don’t have a heart and that you’re exceptionally mean. Hell, I even said you would never change.” Chloé nodded in slight agreement, despite believing that Marinette’s insults didn’t quite compare to her’s. “I’m sorry,” Marinette uttered.

“You had it in you all along,” she told the dark-haired girl once more. Marinette smiled as the two resumed their kiss from earlier.


	8. Chapter 8

The night with Chloé made both girls feel better, the two cuddled and felt a lot better to finally get everything off their chests. 

“Thank you, Chloé. I really am happy for all you’ve done for me.”

Regaining her confidence, the blonde giggled her usual smug giggle. “Of course you are, I’m way too cool not to.”

Marinette then received a text from Alya. “Meet us at your place tomorrow night,” it read.

“Who’s texting?” Chloé asked.

“Alya,” Marinette answered.

“She better have something on that dirty little liar!”

Marinette shook her head. “She wants me to meet her at my place.”

Chloé’s insecurities began to rise once more. “Why? What for?” She asked, agitated.

“I just hope she found something on Lila I can use.”

“She better,” Chloé seethed, still far from trusting of the two-toned brunette.

Nonetheless, Marinette showed up and there was Alya, with the other girls. Juleka, Rose, Alix, Mylène and of course Lila were there.

“What is this, Alya?” Lila simply winked at Marinette knowingly, prompting an infuriated reaction from the pigtailed girl.

“We’re your friends, Marinette,” Rose pleaded. “We’re worried about you.”

“Yeah, you’ve been really off lately,” Juleka added.

“Hanging around Chloé of all people,” Mylène said, shakily.

Marinette knew where this was going, but Chloé wasn’t there to coach her this time. She was on her own. “Okay, first of all, we’re not friends anymore Rose. Get that through your head. Second of all, me hanging out with Chloé has nothing to do with the fact that this girl is a lying little shit!”

Lila of course took this opportunity to shrivel up and make with the crocodile tears.

“This is exactly what we’re talking about!” Alix barked. “You wanna hang with Chloé now? Fine, we don’t care.” The other girls awkwardly turned their eyes to Alix who corrected herself. “Okay, I don’t care. But they do, we’re worried about you. You’ve changed, and I mean a lot.”

Marinette had to fight every urge to weep, she was right. Her friends did still care about her, otherwise they wouldn’t have bothered showing up. This time, Chloé was wrong. But, she was right about one thing, Lila really did have them all brainwashed. She hoped there was some way she could convey the message to them, but evidently that would take time. She wanted to talk to Alya privately once this meeting was over. In the meantime, she had to keep up appearances.

“Alix, please for the love of god shut up! If your puny little ass even had a shred of intelligence, you’d have seen this phony for what she is.”

“Hey! Lay off Marinette!” Alya hissed.

“I guess she’ll just hurt anyone she comes across now,” Lila sighed in that fake forlorn tone. At that moment, Marinette wanted to punch her. She had never felt this feeling with anyone, but today was different. She clenched her fist instinctively, which scared Rose as she hid behind Juleka. Seeing this frightened reaction, she unclenched her fist and reaffirmed herself.

“I think you should all leave, Alya I wanna talk to you for a moment though.”

“Fuck that, we’re not leaving until you say you’re sorry to Lila!” Alix yelled.

“Alix, calm down!” Mylène said, holding the small girl back.

“Get out, all of you!” Marinette insisted. “Except you, Alya!”

Lila was the first to get up. “Come on girls, I appreciate you all standing up for me, but her mind is made up.” One by one they followed. Rose simply shook her head, Juleka glanced at her apologetically, Mylène couldn’t bring herself to look at her and Alix was just ready to sock her. Once they were all gone Marinette sat Alya down.

“What happened? Why did you plan this?!”

“Girl, I’m showing you these girls miss you and you just kind of fucked them all off.”

“Because they; like you, don’t see the truth. And if they don’t I can’t just wait for them to open their eyes. Did you even find out anything about Lila?”

“I found out that you got Adrien in on this too. You’re good Marinette I’ll give you that, you even had me fooled.”

“What?! Adrien?! I’ve barely spoken to him lately!”

“Then why did Chloé send him to harass Lila?”

“Him? Harass Lila?” Marinette chuckled. “Not even, he doesn’t have the guts!”

“Then what was he doing in the Library yesterday?!” Marinette suddenly remembered what Adrien told her and Chloé the night prior. Had Alya seen that? If he was trying to stand up to her, his timing could not have been worse.

“Whatever he did was on his own time! We’re not part of this!”

“Bullshit, you couldn’t resist could you?”

“Yeah, you got proof Alya? Clearly you haven’t fact checked! Again! I’m done with that pussy, he’s the biggest maxi pad of a human being I’ve ever met! I wouldn’t even bleed on him.” Marinette suddenly gasped when she realized how vicious that comment was.

Alya shook her head. “Chloé really has brainwashed you, hasn’t she?”

“No, Lila’s brainwashed all of you! Chloé is the only one in class who isn’t blind!”

Alya walked out, having had enough of this conversation. “I tried Marinette, but you didn’t listen. And now it’s too late.” She walked out, leaving Marinette by herself.

The pigtailed girl was horrified, even if she didn’t say it directly to Adrien, the fact that she said it at all left her in a state of distress. Hurriedly, she called Chloé.

“Hi,” she said shakily.

“So, did Césaire’s little group therapy session turn out to be an utter waste of time?”

“I said something I shouldn’t have, Chloé.”

“What?”

“I said Adrien was a pussy and that he was a maxi pad I wouldn’t bleed on,” she wept. “What’s happening to me?”

“I-If any, he deserves it! Yeah… yeah he had a chance to do something and um... he didn’t!” Chloé stammered with a hint of uncertainty.

“I know, Chloé. But, I still wish I hadn’t said it.”

“But you did, it happened.”

Marinette’s palms began to sweat as she struggled to hold onto the phone. “Can I come by later?”

Chloé began shaking. “Sure, Marinette. No… worries.”

“Thanks, Chloé. I love you.”

“I love you too.” Once the blonde hung up, she began to worry. She was convinced she pushed Marinette too far. She wanted Marinette to be rid of Lila, but not at the expense of her genuine kindness. Old habits die hard, but new habits could also easily lie dormant. While she wasn’t officially Chloé’s girlfriend, she could not stand the idea of losing the girl she had both loved and envied for so long.

But perhaps she had a new envy, that started as a worry. That being the friendship Alya Césaire was able to build with her. Her thoughts were once more on the idea of being shut out should Alya patch things up with Marinette. It wasn’t that she wanted to hog Marinette, but she knew Alya hated her and rightfully so given her actions in school. She didn’t want Marinette to have to choose between her and Alya, but she feared if it came down to it she would choose Alya. It had been the biggest reason why she couldn’t trust her.   
___

On the way home, Alya witnessed yet another ‘Nadine’ message. She noticed Lila on her phone whilst it was being sent. She took a peek to see if it truly was Lila, but much to her surprise and relief… it wasn’t. Lila was simply checking her followers. It was on her Instagram account she started when she moved back into class. The revelation was further confirmed once another Nadine message came along, saying that she didn’t trust Alya was on board. Lila then took a peek at Alya’s phone.

“Marinette... it has to be,” The liar uttered.

Alya sent the pigtailed girl a text. “Turns out Lila isn’t Nadine, and this time I can prove it. I saw Lila on her phone moments before Nadine texted me, there was no way Lila could have typed it that quickly.” She then nervously looked in Lila’s direction. “You think so? 

“Who else would it be?”

“We don’t know for sure, it could be Chloé.”

“You think so?” The liar asked.

Alya didn’t want to believe Marinette had been the culprit, then again her outburst was definitely a sign that the pigtailed behavior was getting worse. She was right about one thing however, she didn’t have proof, but she was determined to obtain it. Lila noticed the enraged look on the blogger’s face.

“Alya, please don’t do anything rash. Please!”

“Oh, I’m quite alright Lila. I think you should just hang back a moment, I’m going to teach Little Miss Privileged a lesson… the hard way.”

“You’re not going to hurt her are you?” Lila asked with faux concern.

“She’s gone too far, if I don’t do something now, she’s going to ruin Marinette.” The aforementioned enraged look was simply a mask, deep down Alya was deathly scared of what she was about to do. She fought back tears, she wished it had never come to this. All she wanted was for Lila and Marinette to be friends. She would have even allowed Chloé to be her friend had the rich girl behaved herself. 

___

Adrien sat at his computer, having just finished sending his message to Alya. “Are you sure this was a good idea?” Plagg asked.

“This whole thing is spiraling out of control, they wanted me to get involved well now I’m doing it,” he affirmed.

“But, what if she finds out it’s you?! You got everyone thinking it’s her!”

“Plagg, this is a delicate business. I’m trying to keep her from doing anything to hurt Lila anymore.”

“Why because she broke off a friendship with you? That’s kind of petty.”

“Because she needs to be stopped, Lila’s lies weren’t hurting anyone.”

“You’re back on that? Need I remind you that she nearly got Marinette expelled?”

“Marinette should have not gotten in over her head, everything she did is her fault. But Chloé, she’s enabling her.” There was a very good reason Adrien did not want to get directly involved with the case. He knew how Lila felt. To be isolated, without freedom, if these lies gave it to her then who was he to take it away? Somehow, he was still convinced he could resolve this peacefully once the firestorm between Alya and Chloé had died down. But first, he had to find some way to take Chloé down a peg before she really hurt someone and she wasn’t going to listen to him.

Adrien tossed his companion a slice of camembert to comfort him. “She won’t, and neither will Lila for that matter. Because Chloé will be my alibi.” He looked at the message he sent. It read “Of course you would chicken out, remember that I still have dirt on you for what happened with Mayor Bourgeois. Now, find a way to deal with that brat Chloé or you can kiss what’s left of your subscribers goodbye. I’m not sure you’re still up to this, but really, is anyone going to believe you if you say you were threatened online?”

“Well, as long as you know what you’re doing,” the little black kwami chirped with a mouthful of camembert.

Adrien logged out of his Ladyblog account, the name on the account being Nadine. He was satisfied with the instructions he sent Alya.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this chapter turned out a little longer than I would have expected. Yes, you read correctly. Adrien was the one sending Alya those messages. And yes he's condemning Marinette for getting involved, failing to realize that had he grown a spine and took action against Lila, Marinette wouldn't even be in this situation.
> 
> I'm not certain if I wish to redeem Adrien (at least not yet). Alya will definitely get one, though the road to it will be rocky I warn you.
> 
> Also seems Chloé's fears of being abandoned are resurfacing. So naturally she's scared of what will happen if Alya and Marinette rekindle their friendship. Also I want to clarify she misses Adrien as a friend too, but she's shoving it deep down because she's still mad at him.
> 
> I'm still pondering if I wanna do an akuma battle. I get Hawk Moth goes after any and every person who suffers negative emotions, but I'm kind of trying to let the story unfold a bit more. I've said in the past I feel akuma attacks harm the show more than they help it. I mean I don't dislike them, but the placement of them narratively isn't always the best (Miraculous Adventures and the NY Special are the biggest offenders of this).


	9. Chapter 9

Alya marched up to Chloé’s hotel room, only to find the blonde was not home. Sabrina was there, sitting outside the doorway, dejected. She let Lila believe Chloé was toxic for her and now she had lost her. The tearful redhead looked up. “H-hi, Alya.”

“Where’s Chloé?” Alya hissed.

Sabrina wept as she slowly released the diary she had bundled in her arms. Alya raised an eyebrow.

“Read it,” Sabrina wept in a weak voice.

And so the blogger did, the recent entries, the attention to detail, the amount of times Marinette was mentioned. She read the most recent entry, it was rather long.

_“March 4th,_

_No way Césaire will find out who that Nadine creep is. If it isn’t Rossi, who else could it be? She’d probably think it’s me, not that I’d ever waste my time on something that stupid. There’s no way Marinette will ever think of staying with me if those two became friends again. Probably will reroute her towards Adrien, that disappointing little shit. Maybe Lahiffe was right when he said Adrien needed different friends, because clearly with that blockhead friendship is a one-way street. Not that I need him, if he can’t stand up for his friends he doesn’t deserve them! But do I? After all I’ve done to Marinette, even after siding with the worst thing to happen to Paris besides the ban on foundation by my idiot daddy, she believes in me."_

Looking back, Alya saw the drastic increase in handwriting quality. It was beautiful. Neat cursive and each sentence stayed in-between the lines. Comparing that to previous entries, the writing was slightly messier and a little less organized. She looked down at Sabrina.

“Did you write this?” The redhead shook her head.

“I would often write Chloé’s entries for her, but ever since I left her for Lila she had been doing them herself. Her handwriting is pretty isn’t it?”

Alya gently placed the diary back in Sabrina’s hands. Clearly the redhead was saddened by how things have changed since this new arrangement. Alya could say she felt the same, but she also knew Marinette chose to ally with Chloé.

She wondered why she couldn’t have come to her if Lila was really this much of a problem for her, was it nerves? Mostly she was reeling in the truth. She looked back through the entries Chloé personally posted again.

_“I hurt her, I can never forgive myself!”_

_“Césaire will take her back and I’ll be useless then.”_

_“Marinette had faith in me, and I proved her wrong.”_

_“Why does she still love... no actually, why does she love me at all?”_

When Alya read these, it all made sense. Chloé wanted Marinette, she loved her. She squatted next to Sabrina, burying her hands in her face. It clearly wasn’t an act.

“Are you okay, Alya?” Sabrina asked meekly.

She shook her head. “I thought I was doing right.” She raised her head once more and looked at the nervous Sabrina. “Chloé loves Marinette, doesn’t she Sabrina?” The redhead nodded, still sniffling.

“Ever since Marinette came into the picture, I was jealous of her. I worried she would replace me. Lila seemed nice, but Chloé didn’t like her. Then again, Chloé doesn’t like a lot of people.”

Alya made an M sound in agreement, Sabrina’s story was sound, but now she wondered if Chloé was lying about Lila to Marinette in order to win her heart. But then she remembered that Marinette was suspicious of Lila long before Chloé got involved. She was wondering what she was missing. She once more turned to Sabrina.

“Did you believe them? About Lila?” Alya asked, Sabrina shook her head.

“I thought Chloé was just jealous of her for getting all the attention, but I think she might have been doing this for Marinette.”

___

Adrien exited his limo, wondering what harebrained plan Chloé and Marinette had this time. He was surprised to see Alya and Sabrina hanging out, the former shooting Adrien a dirty look to which he paid no mind to.

“Hey Nino!” Adrien called out to his friend.

“Yo dude,” he said, unenthusiastically.

“What’s wrong?” He asked, as his friend looked at him unenthusiastically.

“Alya,” he uttered. “She broke up with me, said she has feelings for someone else.”

“No! That’s awful!” Adrien called out.

“Said, she didn’t want to be with me anymore. I don’t know what happened.”

“I’m sorry man. Maybe I can talk to Alya for you?” Nino nodded, Adrien knew his friend was feeling down so he decided to let Nino recover while he handled it.

“Hey, Alya.”

“Adrien,” she harshly addressed him.

“So, I hear you broke up with Nino?”

“What business is it of yours?”

“He’s upset. What happened.”

Alya rolled her eyes. “Look, it just didn’t work out, okay? Things happen.”

“I know, but he’s my friend.”

“Look Adrien, please just stay out of this. I’ve got my own problems.” She walked away without a word. In came Marinette and Chloé, both of them not even acknowledging their former glasses wearing friends. They just walked in, doing their usual bitch walk before Marinette kissed Chloé on the lips where the entire school could see it. Chloé returned the gesture.

The entire school just about fainted, Alya sighed; knowing it was coming, Sabrina looked ready to punch the first person who came near her, and Adrien simply rolled his eyes. Lila approached the duo, laughing.

“Oh, congrats! You two are an item now! Oh, how romantic!”

“Shut up, Rossi!” Chloé hissed.

“What’s wrong? You’re not jealous are you?” Marinette wondered.

“Jealous? Of course not, I am simply offering my blessing to the new couple!” She said in a faux sugary voice.

“Well we don’t need your blessing,” Marinette snooted.

“Nor do we want it!” Chloé added.

“Come on babe, we got class.”

“See you there!” Chloé stayed behind to watch Lila sneer.

“You really think this is going to stop me?”

“No, I think you’re no longer of our concern.”

“Oh? How bold of you, Chloé,” Lila giggled. She knew Alya was watching. “It’s not too late, we can still work things out. If you’re willing to?”

Chloé shook her head. “Why don’t you… buzz off? I think we’ve spent enough time on you.”

“Very well, Chloé. But as you now know, I’m not this ‘Nadine’ you two have made up.”

Chloe’s scowl deepened. “You may not be Nadine, but you’re still a liar!” Lila flinched as if to give the other students the impression Chloé was about to hurt her. But Chloé wasn’t going to fall for her tricks. “Goodbye, Lila!” She stormed off, not even looking back to acknowledge her. She wasn’t her problem anymore. 

However, Marinette felt different. As she entered the class there were only a few students. Mylène was there, as was Ivan of course. Nathaniel and Alix were also sitting in their usual areas. All except Alix waved to her as she took Sabrina’s seat. Chloé came in and took her usual seat next to her. She stuck her tongue out at the glaring Alix.

“If you got a problem with my girlfriend, then you got a problem with me!”

“Girlfriend!” Alix yelped.

“Yeah, Alix. Girlfriend,” Marinette added, pulling Chloé into another kiss. The four students just about fainted. “Isn’t that awesome?! We can go on a double date, forget about Lila, have fun with each other.”

“Ivan and Mylène dropped their heads nervously, while Nathaniel just went back to drawing. Alix on the other hand slammed her hands on the desk and walked to the two.

“Marinette, a word? Outside?” The pigtailed girl smugly stood up, towering over the ever so small Alix.

“Sure thing,” she walked out with her and Alix pulled her aside to where no one could hear them.

“I know about Lila,” she muttered.

Marinette raised a brow. “How’d you find out?”

“When that whiny little wuss said you’d hurt anyone you’d come across. Chloé or no Chloé I know that’s bullshit. You may be kind of a nut sometimes, but I know you wouldn’t hurt anyone without a reason.”

“Why’d you wait so long to tell me?” Marinette asked. “You were going all aggro at my intervention.”

Alix folded her arms. “If I just calmed down without explanation, that would’ve been pretty sus don’t you think?” Marinette nodded, surprised. Her mouth slightly agape. “I guess my ‘puny little ass’...” she said with quotations “had some intelligence after all,” she bragged. “Besides, how many times did you ever even swear before you became friends Chloé?”

“No, I swore all the time!” Marinette insisted. “Fuck. Shit. Ass. Bitch. Cunt,” each swear sounded sillier than the last. Alix couldn’t help but laugh at Marinette’s attempts to stay edgy.

“See! You swear like a 7 year old who just figured out what those words meant,” Alix laughed, playfully punching Marinette’s shoulder.

“So you believe me about Lila?”

“Isn’t that what I just said?” Alix wondered. “Kind of amazed Alya doesn’t.”

Marinette laughed back at her. “Once she’s told one thing it’s hard to convince her of the other point of view. Hopefully, I can still find out who that low life harassing her is.”

“You think it might be Lila?” Alix asked.

Marinette shook her head. “I thought so, but Alya said Lila was with her when Nadine texted her.”

“So scratch Lila, you think it could be Chloé?”

“It’s not Chloé!” Marinette insisted.

“Well who else could it be?” Alix asked again.

“Well we know it’s not them. Can you think of anyone else?”

“Nope,” Alix responded cheekily.

“Well, it’s gotta be someone who goes here. Whoever does, knows about my crush… scratch that, ex-crush on Adrien.”

Alya walked by to see Marinette and Alix just finish talking. The trio waves to each other apologetically. Alya just wanted this to be over, even if Marinette didn’t like Lila she just wanted her old friend back. At this point she didn’t even care that she was dating Chloé now even if it still got under her skin. She went to her locker and stared at their picture. They looked so happy, where did it all go wrong?

The moment was broken when Lila; her now girlfriend, showed up. “Hey, Alya.”

“Oh uh, hey babe. Look about the Nadine thing…”

“I’m fine now, it was just a mistake.”

Alya nervously smiled at Lila. Despite being her girlfriend now, she felt like Lila was hiding something from her. Marinette would tell her everything, but Lila didn’t seem to want to tell her anything. Not even how her day went, Alya would be the one to initiate every conversation they had, every date planned was also Alya’s doing. “Look Lila, I get you’re busy and all, but I was wondering something.”

Lila pretended to look interested in what the blogger had to say. “Yes, Alya?”

“I just… I don't think we spend enough time together. I’ve been feeling kind of lonely lately.” Lila was tempted to wave her off.

“I’ll try to make time, ta ta!” The faux celebrity left without even so much as a kiss. 

Alya scrolled through old messages and it was clear Marinette genuinely cared for her, even if she was pushy about her dates with Adrien. She remembered the two of them would talk for hours, have sleepovers, watch movies. Lila meanwhile, seemed to end conversations quickly and only said goodbye every other time. Whatever they had felt ingenuine. She wondered if Marinette had been telling the truth all along.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, Alix now knows. Alya is... well... kind of opening her eyes slowly. The pieces begin to line up and she's beginning to suspect Lila. And of course she misses Marinette.

**Author's Note:**

> Follow the [Miraculous Fanworks Discord](https://discord.gg/mlfanworks) to see us working hard (or hardly working) on fics, pics and other fanworks.


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